To JadeDragon927: I'm really glad you enjoy the story so far. While I'm aware that Yota's arc was a bit rushed, there was no other way to place that part of the story...at least in my head. To be honest, I never planned to write him in the first place but the chapters kept flowing and I got stumped on how to end things with him.

Besides, if you read the story further you would discover that I am following a timeline. Yota's arc had to end there otherwise I would not be able to develop other characters. You're actually my first constructive critic and I'm glad! I'd make sure to work on rushed scenes when the rest of the story is done.

Thanks for reviewing and I really hope that you don't mind me replying in the chapter.

*

To JacFrust: the much awaited talk no jutsu is here!

I really hope you enjoy the chapter!

Naruto awoke to the smell of something burning and the sound of a fire alarm. Mind and vision bleary from his sleep's interruption, Naruto walked out of his room to the kitchen where the smell was coming from. His mother must've left something on fire again.

The kitchen was a mess which was so unusual for his parents. What he assumed was bacon was already smoking, hence the fire alarm and rain of water from the sprinklers. Whisked egg was spilled across the counter with the bowl and whisker askew on the marble top.

The blond walked towards the burner inquisitively, where was his mother? Surely she was supposed to notice all the clamour coming from the kitchen. That being said, where was his father?

The eleven year old's blue eyes widened with shock when he glanced around and saw a glimpse of his mother's red hair from behind the kitchen island. He rounded it only to be met with an even more shocking sight.

There on the floor lay his mother. Her eyes were open and glassy, having lost their original colour to death and her mouth, red with drying blood. Other than her long red locks of hair Kushina was surrounded by the redness of her own blood, seeping from the injury on her abdomen.

"M-mum?" Naruto's voice was small with shock and horror. His movements were automatic as he stumbled over to her side and shook her. Kushina was stiff with rigor mortis already. "Mum!" Naruto yelled. "Dad! Dad! Come help, mum is hurt!"

The boy picked himself up and ran to his parents' room where he hoped his father was.

"Dad-!"

Naruto froze at the sight. Just like his mother, his father was sprawled on the floor of the room but with a knife imbedded deep in his abdomen.

The next few moments were a blur to Naruto. He had no sense of time and lost his ability to recognise and create words talk less speak. He had tried to help his father, had tried to remove the knife but his hands were too shocked to move.

The fire from the burner attracted people who alerted the fire service and that was how Naruto got tagged as a murderer.

Something was new about this bit of memory though. It was still fuzzy but Naruto could see the figure of a man watching from the sidelines. The golden glint of his eyes were the most prominent thing about him. He was looking directly at Naruto as the dazed boy was dragged away by the police.

Naruto remembered crossing glances with him...

Naruto awoke with a strangled scream. His heart erratically thudded against his ribcage as cold sweat dribbled down his forehead and matted his hair. His blanket and body pillow were at the end of the bed from incessant turning in his sleep and his pajamas stuck to his skin.

"Naruto."

"Ah!" The blond screamed at the sudden voice.

"Calm down, it's me." Iruka soothed. "I have been trying to wake you up for a while now." The man had heard Naruto's screams from his room and gotten up to assess it. "Nightmare?" He asked.

Naruto shook his head. "I remembered something...from the day my parents died." Iruka stiffened next to him as he said so.

"What?" The brunet asked.

"A man with golden eyes. He was looking at me." Naruto vaguely explained between small pants of air.

Iruka's mind whirred as he thought about what Naruto just said. A man with golden eyes? Who could that be? But first he had Naruto to worry about.

Iruka ran his hand through the boy's golden locks and laid him back down to sleep. "I'll be there when you wake up." He assured at Naruto's scared expression. Iruka left the lights on because the dark might not be comfortable for his ward right now.

Once Naruto was deep in sleep, Iruka allowed his mind to wander in search for a man with golden eyes. Was it somebody he knew? Somebody Minato and Kushina knew? Who was it?

Xxx symphony xxX

"S-sorry!" The whole dinner hall, as big as it was, evolved in a baited silence as Gaara rose to his feet from his seat, head hung low and eyes obscured by his wet bangs. Naruto's eyes widened at the scene unfolding before him.

Even he knew that Gaara was off limits today, which was why he didn't sit with the redhead like he usually did every lunch.

Gaara gripped Sakura's hand that was trying to clean her mess in a crushing, vice like, manner until the girl was squirming in pain. "Don't touch me." The redhead's eyes were blown and darting erratically as if he was...scared.

Scared of what? Naruto wondered. Sakura? No way. It wasn't Sakura that Gaara was so afraid of. The vulpine boy's thoughts were confirmed when Gaara flinched the moment Ino grabbed his hand that was holding Sakura's. Touch. Gaara was afraid of sudden physical contact.

The back hand that came as a retaliation for touching him was too fast to follow. Naruto could only stand in an attempt to stop Gaara as well as other students who had began to form a circle around the scene. Thank goodness for Lee's inhuman speed and reflexes.

Some seniors and sophomores were already running to the scene. They arrived for lunch late as usual but their timing could not be more perfect. The relief that the seniors brought was short lived as Gaara took Lee over in an eye's blink.

"Don't touch me. Don't touch me. Don't touch me. Don't touch me." He kept repeating that sentence and Naruto knew that shit was about to go down.

"GAARA NO!" Naruto heard a yell as he tried to get to Lee and Gaara.

"GAARA!" Another scream but it was too late. Before anybody could reach him, Gaara had stepped on Lee's shoulder and thigh, taking the taller boy's arm in his hand and pinning his head down with another. Lee squirmed but it was useless.

"DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME!"

The horrible crack of dislocation reverberated through the whole room followed by Lee's pained scream and horrified screams from surrounding girls. The whole cafeteria was in utter chaos as students ran helter skelter.

Two sophomores got to the scene and pulled Gaara away from Lee while the prefects surrounded the squirming boy. The teachers, alerted by the screams, were already in the cafeteria and could only balk when they saw the amount of damage Gaara had done this time. Said boy slumped in his siblings' holds with defeat.

Naruto watched Lee get carried away to the infirmary or even hospital and Gaara led away by Morino Ibiki, the school's disciplinarian. His blue eyes narrowed with determination and his legs began to move.

"Naruto, where are you going?!" Kiba called after him but Naruto couldn't answer. He ran to the detention room where he was sure Gaara was kept until the principal and teachers decided what to do with him. He had been in detention once or twice enough to know where it was.

"Let me talk to him!" Naruto yelled, interrupting Ibiki's conversation with Iruka. Thank goodness Iruka was here.

"Pardon?" Ibiki asked.

"Gaara, please let me talk to Gaara!"

"And for what reason?" Iruka was surprised that Ibiki was humouring his determined psuedo son but knowing Naruto, it was either Ibiki permitted him or he did it by force.

"No reason- I- just! Sensei please!" Naruto struggled with his words. He looked at Iruka and begged him silently for help.

"Do you think what you would say would change him? What difference can you make if you just repeat the words he has heard over again?" Ibiki questioned.

"I can't." Naruto answered. "Gaara is the one that'll decide if he wants to change but what happened just now was not intentional. I feel like this is the best and only time he would actually listen to anybody so please let me talk to him!"

• Several minutes of talk no jutsu later... •

Naruto locked the door behind him as soon as he entered. Gaara was sitting at the far back corner of the room and glaring at the whiteboard. The blond began to move the tables and chairs and stacked them upon each other to block the door. He didn't want interruption.

Gaara spared him little to no glance throughout the whole ordeal, only looking up when Naruto moved the table he was sitting at and replaced it with a chair before sitting on it. Now they were face to face.

"Get out." Gaara commanded with an icy tone that would make any other person shiver in fright.

"He speaks!" Naruto mocked. "I would have thought you were mute."

"Get. Out." Gaara repeated.

"No, you get out!" Naruto snapped. "What the hell is your problem?! You keep acting like the world is against you or something! You wouldn't reply when spoken to and would gladly beat anyone that tries to get close away! So you get out! You didn't have to hurt Lee and Sakura today! You didn't have to behave like a psycho-!"

The chair the blond sat upon gave way as Gaara kicked it and he fell. "Shut up." The redhead commanded.

Growling, Naruto stood up in a rush and knocked the unsuspecting boy off his seat. The chair made a loud clank as it gave way and the boys landed on the floor with a thud. Naruto straddled Gaara and grabbed his collar. Once again the blond saw the crazed look creep unto Gaara's face upon the contact.

"Don't touch me." Red whispered. The world spun around and stopped only when Naruto landed on his back. Gaara had turned the tables and was straddling him instead. He delivered a blow to the blond's face. "Don't touch me."

Naruto struggled to block Gaara's punches but he was unrelenting. Having enough, Naruto bucked his hips and set the fairer boy off balance. Once again Naruto was on top and it was his turn to rain blows on Gaara whether he was already injured or not.

"What are you, a turtle?! Why. Are. You. So closed. Up. In. Your. Shell-!" Every word was punctuated with a punch until Gaara rolled over and gained advantage again. Naruto was vaguely happy that he had moved the chairs and tables out of the way with how the both of them were rolling on the ground like pigs.

Their shirts were torn and buttons popped. It was a good thing that neither of them wore ties because they would have strangled each other at one point. Blood dripped from their noses and busted lips and their bumps from hits were the size of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

It even got to a point that they started pulling each other's hairs like teenage girls who happened to wear the same dress to prom. Gaara was getting exhausted and so was Naruto, but the blond had more stamina and was more tentative than the redhead.

"Leave *pant* me *pant* alone, you freak!" Gaara yelled as he delivered a weak sock to Naruto's gut. The blond just used it to flip Gaara over and slam him down. However, that meant that he exerted the last of his energy so he could not throw any more punches. Instead he used his head.

Literally.

"I've had it with you!"

Ever gotten hit by a coconut?

The impact caused both boys to start bleeding on their foreheads. The silence was broken by the harsh puffs of breath that they were taking. Blue eyes met with green.

"I know how you feel." Naruto broke the silence with a whisper.

"You don't." Gaara argued. "You know nothing."

Both were laying side by side as they conversed. Bloodied and bruised were they.

"I know more than you think. We're the same, ya know?" Naruto insisted. "I know the feeling of burns from other people's gazes when you walk by, the whispers that are thrown your way, how they avoid you, the loneliness, I know how it feels. I know how much it hurts."

And God, did Naruto know that feeling. No matter how dumb he was, even he could tell how guarded his classmates were towards him. The dejection and ostracism he experienced was not fun at all. It hurt so much.

"If you do, how do you still smile?" Gaara could not understand how Naruto could act like he was oblivious to what people said and thought about him.

Truth be told, Naruto saw Gaara as how he would be like if he didn't have a saving grace. He was about to give up on everything when Iruka showed up like a miracle. "I met Iruka-sensei." Naruto answered. "He saved me from myself and then I made friends." Yota, Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji, Akamaru and Lee's faces flashed in Naruto's head for a moment. "And I am making more. I want to be your friend, Gaara."

"What?"

"I heard your song, that day at the studio when you were on punishment. You're lonely but you don't have to be. You love yourself and live for only yourself...you don't have to do that anymore. People care for you more than you think and I am one of them. That's why I want to be your friend."

What was this? Was Gaara actually, dare he say it, touched? By this not so happy go lucky blond's words no less? Yes he was. He was touched. He didn't want to be lonely anymore, or remain the same person he was. He wanted to change.

Today, in a battle of sweat, blood and bruises, Gaara made his first friend and his first step to socialisation.

"Tell me about yourself." Naruto requested from Gaara. They were still on the floor of the detention room and the adrenaline from the fight had gone down, making the pain from their injuries even more pronounced.

"Myself?"

Naruto didn't think he could get used to Gaara's voice when it wasn't either threatening someone or yelling madly. Nevertheless he nodded and expatiated. "Yeah, if you don't mind I wanna know what happened with your uncle and mother dattebayo."

"My mother died giving birth to me and my uncle...I killed him." Gaara replied.

"Really?" Instead of the judgemental voice Gaara had anticipated, Naruto's voice was curious and sympathetic instead. "Something happened, right?" The blond asked.

"Yes." Gaara replied.

"Tell me." Naruto requested. Gaara seemed to ponder on how to start the tale before finally deciding on one.

"My father didn't take my mother's death too well so I was blamed for it. Father didn't like me, still doesn't, so Yashamaru (my uncle) took me in when I was four. I...admired my uncle. I could even say I l-loved him." Gaara stuttered at the word 'love' as if it was the first time he was saying it in a sentence. "But he was just like everyone else."

"Yashamaru, why does it hurt?" The five year old asked his uncle. His face was scrunched up in pain as he gripped the area over his small chest. "There is no blood but it hurts right here." Gaara felt the pain anytime he wanted to play with other children and they ran from him.

He felt it anytime he heard that his father would not come to visit him with Kankuro and Temari. He felt it today when he accidentally fell that girl at the sand park. It hurt a lot so Gaara had tried to cut himself to bleed, to feel physical pain. His uncle came at that moment and stopped him from hurting himself.

Yashamaru cut his finger with the knife, causing Gaara to exclaim, but the man smiled in reassurance. "Wounds like this hurt and heal but there are wounds that can't heal. That is the wound of the heart."

"Wound of the heart?" Gaara echoed.

"Yes. Physical wounds like this heal over time but wounds to the heart never heals. Love is the only thing that can heal a wounded heart. It is with that love your mother gave birth to you. She was willing to die for you even without seeing you. That is love, young lord Gaara. Love heals. Love is what makes us less hurt." Yashamaru had said to him.

That evening Gaara took some medicine to the girl's house he fell. She didn't accept it though.

"Go away, monster."

The door slammed on his face.

Yashamaru told him love made people feel less hurt. He didn't tell him that love also made people hurt more.Two years after that incident, Yashamaru attacked Gaara.

It started as a normal afternoon. Gaara was perched on top a stool in the kitchen and was cutting vegetables under Yashamaru's guidance while the man himself went to get the vinegar for the boiled eggs. The boy raised his head from the cutting he was doing when he realised that his uncle was eerily quiet.

Yashamaru was hunched over the open cabinet that contained the bottle of vinegar which was held tightly in his grip. His knuckles were white and his frame trembled.

"Yashamaru?" Gaara called in worry. The man didn't answer."I can't." He whispered instead. "I tried so hard but I just can't!"

"Yasha–!" Gaara didn't get the word complete before his uncle finally lashed out. All the years he spent bottling his feelings and trying to at least care for the child for his sister's sake finally broke and his facade was removed.

"DON'T CALL MY NAME!" Yashamaru yelled. Gaara started at the sudden lash out. He was confused. "You killed her so you should join her!"

The man lunged for Gaara and pushed him off the stool he was perched on. The both of them fell on the floor with Yashamaru on top and Gaara beneath. The vinegar bottle Yashamaru held broke beside Gaara's head. The boy trembled with fear and even more fear at the sudden change in his uncle's behaviour, his breaths coming out in small jagged puffs.

He clutched the knife he was using to chop vegetables tightly despite his shaking body. As if on cue, the both of them simultaneously lowered their heads to look at Yashamaru's stomach where the knife had sank into."Well done, young lord." The man coughed up blood. The knife had ruptured his lung just as he had hoped but Gaara didn't need to know that.

"Y-Yasha-maru...why?" The only comprehensible thing Gaara could ask was why? Why did his uncle attack him? Why did his uncle want to kill him? Why?

"I tried so hard to love y-you but I c-can't. You...you are truly a m-monster young lord Gaara." Yashamaru whispered. Blood spewed from his lips with every word he said. "Your m-mother never loved you. She died cursing y-you. That is why she named you the self loving demon, 'Gaara'. You took her life and n-now mine. You are not created to love, you are created to destroy."Weakly, Yashamaru lifted the broken mouth of the bottle of vinegar and stabbed the skin of Gaara's forehead. The seven year old shrieked in pain and tried to shimmy out of his uncle's hold but the man's weight held him in place.

"AAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!"

"You love only yourself and l-live for only y-yourself. As long as you s-still have people left to destroy, you won't disappear. You are the self loving demon. You were never loved, young lord Gaara."

Yashamaru accentuated each word with a stroke of the jagged glass. Blood and tears streamed down Gaara's face not only at the pain he felt physically, but at the pain he felt emotionally. He was never loved.

After what seemed like hours, Yashamaru finally gave up the ghost and the entirety of his dead weight lay on Gaara until the boy fell unconscious. This was how he developed his fear for physical contact. Gaara awoke in an hospital with a plaster on his head. A male nurse was the only one in the room with him. Outside the room, a clamour could be heard along with some mentions of his name thrown here and there. Gaara was scared.

Rasa entered the hospital room looking very displeased, which shrunk Gaara further into his shell. It was his first time of seeing his father in years and the first thing he said was, "so you have killed Yashamaru too."

The next few days involved questioning from the police and court summonings, after which Gaara was discharged from the hospital. The reporters that crowded him to ask him terrifying questions only served to make him more antagonistic to social interaction.

Only when the plaster on his head was removed did he see the resulting scar of the injury Yashamaru gave him.

愛

Meaning love.

"You were never loved, young lord Gaara."

The words came back to him and his scar throbbed with pain. Nightmares caused him to forgo sleeping altogether, hence the dark rings around his eyes becoming even more pronounced. He was born with the rings but they grew darker with insomnia.

The sand became a very close friend to Gaara. As he grew he just decided to ditch the world altogether. He grew uncaring to most things and would not hesitate to get rid of any person that tried to come too close.

Until now.

"So that's what really happened..." Naruto jumped to his feet and huffed in righteous anger. "Damn, you're surrounded by assholes! If I can get my hands on Rasa, I'd pulverize him to pieces! What a load of crap!"

"It amazes me how you still have the energy to shout and jump." Gaara deadpanned.

"It amazes me how you can speak more than one sentence." Naruto retorted. "Yoshay! Don't you worry Gaara, Naruto-sama would help you improve your social life in no time, just count on me dattebayo!" He had his usual stupid grin on his face as he made that declaration.

Just about then, the door to the room was banged loudly. That was when the boys realise that the teachers had been trying to get to them for quite a while now. Chuckling nervously, Naruto helped Gaara up and they moved the chairs and tables away.

"What happened?!" Iruka shrieked in terror at their bruises and twin black eyes like the mother hen he was.

"Hehehe..." Naruto laughed nervously while Gaara was silent as usual.

"I suppose you both know what this means." Ibiki's steely gaze pegged the boys to a place. Gaara's heart reached the bottom of his stomach. There was no way he was escaping the psychiatric ward or military school, if his father was being nice, this time. "A decision has been made concerning you, Gaara."

Ibiki's words cemented Gaara's thoughts deeper. At least he made a friend before he was taken away.

"To the principal's office, you two."

Gaara was currently inside the principal's office while Iruka and Naruto waited outside for his turn. The blond was worried because principal Tsunade seemed like a very strict woman from the introduction speech she gave during newcomer's orientation.

"Is Gaara going to get expelled?" Naruto asked Iruka.

"Since when are you two chums, huh?" Iruka asked in return. He knew that Naruto could befriend anybody but this development was new.

"Today, dattebayo! Gaara's just really antisocial and doesn't like people touching him and is really nice once you get to know him so I don't think he should be expelled!" Naruto defended his new friend.

"Naruto, you just became friends four hours ago." Iruka deadpanned.

"That's why-!" The boy didn't get his words down because Iruka had pulled his ear. "Ow ow ow Iruka-sensei, it hurts!"

"Sure it does! Fighting on the school ground is prohibited and you even dragged Gaara into it! Look at how injured you are! No ramen for you tonight!" Iruka hounded his pseudo-son.

"NANI?!" Naruto shrieked. "No ramen?! Come on Iruka-sensei, have compassion on a man!"

"You're too loud." The brunet reprimanded, not rescinding his punishment.

"You're mean." Naruto muttered under his breath.

Iruka hid a smile from Naruto by facing away from him. The boy's attitude towards things was just like his mother's but with his own special quirks. He was glad that the murder incident didn't change Naruto by much.

• Meanwhile in principal Tsunade's office... •

Gaara's feet didn't reach the ground from the chair he sat on but nobody needed to know that. Who on earth made the chairs this high anyway?! There are short people in the world!

"I am sure that you already know that your saving grace is exhausted, Gaara." Tsunade spoke. "I have no choice but to expel you from KSA..."

Gaara slightly deflated at that.

"...is what I'd like to say but for some reason, your sensei fought tooth and neck to keep you in the school."

Gaara gasped. Iruka-sensei did that for him?

"Do you get it Gaara? The grace you have now is at your teacher's expense. If you do something wrong, he loses his job and maybe dignity for putting his trust on you. By all standards other than your delinquent attitude, your grades are enough reason to expel you for but I know you can do better. Do not let your teacher's efforts be in vain, Gaara." Tsunade admonished him sternly. "Understand?"

Gaara nodded.

"Your words, boy."

"Yes principal Tsunade."

"Good. I should tell you that the Kazekage knows nothing about this." Gaara's head snapped up at the busty blond's words. Did he hear right? "I did inform your guardian, Baki-san, and your older siblings and cousin. Don't ask me why I did that."

In truth, Tsunade had noticed Gaara's reluctance to go home after he got into trouble whenever the Kazekage was around in Konoha. After that, the boy always came with a new bruise from 'another fight'. Tsunade didn't like that. Even though Gaara was high maintenance there were other ways to deal with him than border lining on abuse.

"You are on community service suspension for two weeks. Now get out of my office!" Tsunade all but kicked the redhead out. "Call in the Uzumaki after you're gone."

Gaara was met with Sasori when he stepped out of the office. Temari and Kankuro were behind him and they both had scared looks on their faces. Their cousin could be scary if need be.

"Did you get expelled?" Naruto asked from his position next to Iruka.

"No." Gaara replied and his siblings' jaws hit the ground. "Iruka-sensei..." He didn't know how to put his gratitude into words. He didn't need to.

"I know." Iruka smiled.

"Uh?" Naruto was the only one confused. "What? Iruka-sensei what? What?" He voiced his cluelesness. Nobody was willing to answer though.

"It's your turn." Gaara informed the blond and left with his cousin and siblings. It was past closing hours already. Just how long did he and Naruto fight for anyway?

"I don't think I need to say anything much." Sasori spoke once they reached the school entrance. "Don't waste this opportunity, brat."

The older redhead left after his short admonition. Now that Gaara thought of it, he and Sasori were the only redheads in their family. Guess he really did inherit it from some ancestor.

"Let's go home Gaara. I'd treat your wounds...that's if you allow me to." Temari said unsurely.

"Temari, Kankuro," The twins looked at their brother quizzically as he struggled to get the words out of his mouth. He was finally able to say it. "I'm s-sorry."

Temari's gasp was loud and sharp. She wasn't expecting the apology at all and even then she was supposed to be the one apologising.

"I'm also sorry." Kankuro was surprisingly the first to speak between the two. His apology took the other two by surprise. "I guess I should have tried to understand you better and stuff...like that." He finished awkwardly.

Gaara's outburst earlier today had taken him by surprise but he saw how genuinely scared his little brother was of people touching him suddenly. It was like he believed that everyone was out to get him.

"I'm also sorry, Gaara." Temari spoke. "I would to try to be a better sister to you."

"Could you..." Gaara hesitated a bit. "...accompany me to my therapy sessions?" He voiced out in a breath.

Temari never thought she smiled this wide before. Finally, she was taking a step forward. "Sure I would!"

"Why am I excluded from this?!" Kankuro exclaimed indignantly.

"Cause I'm the cooler one." Temari smirked.

"I call BS." Kankuro retorted.

Gaara allowed a small smile to stretch his lips. He was glad that his siblings accepted him.

Thanks for reading! I appreciate your reviews and story follows!